Denial
by lovexall
Summary: Orihime re-evaluates her relationship with Ichigo after the Winter War. Contains references to infidelity. One- Shot. Reviews are welcome.


A/N: This is my first time attempting a one-shot. I appreciate feedback to help me on my writing but please don't be cruel. Reviews are welcome. Some people might be wondering why I haven't updated Wanted but I'm currently stuck on that right now. I'm still finding out stuff about me as a writer and I've learned that the more I write about other things, the more I get out of my writers block. I probably should've started doing one-shots and short stories (written ahead of time) before I decided to write an ongoing fanfiction. I appreciate support though :)

Enjoy

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Denial

She didn't know why she put herself through this.

She loved Ichigo.

That seemed like a good enough answer; he loved her back- he even said it, so it had to be true. Kurosaki-kun never lied. Whenever he made an oath to do something he did it. Orihime remembered the battle Ichigo had with Grimmjow…

His eyes…

They weren't _his_ eyes.

But she learned that deep down her _Kurosaki-kun_ was in there. And he promised her and himself that he would win.

And he did.

Orihime had seen things she wished she could un-see that took place during the Winter War. At times she even found herself waking up in cold sweat. Sure, she was still the bubbly girl everyone knew and loved but something was different. Something was off. Ichigo had been the only one who could see through her facade. Comforting her, offering his ear, and occasionally when he could muster a smile and the stomach he would eat her food. They started "going easy" and Orihime felt like she was in that soap-opera that she always watched. Then he said the words "I love you" and ever since that day she pledged to become _Kurosaki Orihime_.

Orihime touched her lips as she stared widely at the door Ichigo just left through. They had tasted different.

They tasted like him, but there was something else.

A tad bit of cherry lip gloss…

Orihime never made the mistake of getting cherry lip gloss. With all the other flavors like lemon-mango, lime-peach, and watermelon-grape why would she get just plain cherry? She even scurried to her room dumping her purse on the bed shuffling through the mess not finding a cherry lipgloss. Ichigo didn't wear flavored chap-stick.

Then it all crashed down on her.

She knew someone who wore cherry lip gloss.

She knew someone who occasionally put it on because she was the one who gave it to her- a bunny chappy at the end of it to make the gift more personal.

Rukia…

No…

She was thinking too hard.

Often when Ichigo came home from college he'd seem a bit restless and when he left to hang out at Renji's where Rukia also lived he would come back happier than he was to begin with. Even when he went on duty with Rukia to fight one or two hollows he'd take longer than someone would expect, sweatier and flushed more than the average hollow would make him.

No…

Orihime was just jealous- like she always was with Rukia. This wasn't high school anymore and she had learned to put that behind her just with everything else.

The lip gloss...

The midnight duty calls...

The texts...

The side glances they made at each other when they thought no one was looking…

_The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the_

She filed this under a black folder in her head of things she didn't want to confront- because there was nothing to confront to.

Rukia and Ichigo had bonded- they always had a bond; it was something no one could break.

_Kurosaki-kun_ loved her and _Kurosaki-kun_ would never cheat on her because that's something he would never do.

And when Ichigo thought she wasn't looking and would glance at her with a look of self-pity, as if he did something bad, she would put it in the black folder- which had drawings of spiders and flesh-eating zombies- of things she didn't want to confront. There was nothing to confront to begin with.

She wouldn't do that to them…

Do it to their relationship…

But worse of all…She didn't want to put herself in that situation of always being second-best, the friend, or the girl he simply felt sorry for.


End file.
